Jamie Crummie is the co-founder of TooGoodToGo, a startup tackling food waste around the world. The app allows users to buy left-over food from restaurants at a discounted price at the end of the day.
Founded in 2016, the start-up began as a reaction to the astonishing fact that, in the UK alone, over 10m tonnes of food is thrown away per year, which amounts to an estimated £17bn. Globally, estimates have predicted that over a third of all food produced is wasted.
Pitching itself as a win for consumers, and a win for restaurants – who manage to waste less and sell more – the app is now used across Europe in 14 different countries, such as France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. In the UK alone, the app has saved over 600 000 meals since it began 4 years ago.
Speaking to Jamie, it was clear that he has big ambitions for the project. Apart from his desire to work with large scale supermarkets – one of the main culprits of food waste – he sees TooGoodToGo as a part of a larger movement against food waste. He hopes that as we come to realise the interconnection of food waste with environmental issues – it accounts for an estimated 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions – and social justice, we will witness a global revolution in how we think and act about food.
In a recent interview with London newspaper the Evening Standard, he stated that
The ultimate would be to do ourselves out of a job in that food waste will be eradicated. The primary reason for the app is education and information — and trying to decrease the epidemic of food waste
Globally, TooGoodToGo has saved 27 million meals, 67 000 tonnes of CO2 and works with other 36 000 partners. Find out more about their work here.
We recently had the pleasure to speak to Jamie Crummie about his vision for TooGoodToGo and the food waste revolution. Check it out:
About the Author / William Holy-Hasted
Student of Human, Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cambridge. Interested in the intersection of Sociology, Data Science and Architecture. Passionate about the UN SDGs!